The Nezumi chronicles
by Flower Angel Becca
Summary: A rather different story concerning a young woman mouse and her life and times staying at the hotel.   Pre-series era.
1. Wedding plans

In life, there comes a time where changes become predominant in a person's lifestyle.  
Some people might start school, work or even find themselves getting married or having kids…me?  
I was no different…  
But out of all the things that could ever happen in the world, I found myself falling in love with a man who was unlike any other that I had ever seen.

It all started long ago…back when the second world war was the topic in nearly every conversation and the threat of air raids was very high.  
I was a young mouse woman, born from a rich family; who was going to meet her future husband ( as requested by mother) very soon.

" I heard from somewhere that his last name is Nezumi…that's rather un-British don't you think so dear?" my mother asked me, yet by the smile on her face, she obviously liked the thought of that.  
" Do you suppose he has family ties to a foreign country?"

Of course the answer to that question should have been obvious to my mother, but I just rolled my eyes and gave a shrug of my shoulders.  
Although in my mind, I tried to get a picture of my future husband in my head…maybe he was tall and slender or was an average height; was he handsome or with a weathered appearance?  
I didn't have to wonder for much longer however, as the motor car eventually pulled up outside the gates of a rather weathered-looking mansion.

There was a blonde-haired young man who stood outside, as if waiting for visitors to arrive…I thought that he was a butler or something like that, with his posh waistcoat, black trousers and polished shoes, I was half expecting him to offer on taking our coats or something…but instead, he gave a graceful bow.  
" A pleasure to meet you both" he said, extending his arm out to me and my mother.  
" I trust that you are here to discuss wedding plans"

" Indeed we are" responded my mother " Lady Elizabeth and her daughter Victoria Weathering, here to see Madam Nezumi and her son, Gregory"

The young man gave a surprised look at that moment, but it soon became a grin as he nodded and merely turned to look at the mansion.  
" Please follow me, I shall take you to see the madam herself"

As them two had been talking, I gazed at the sights around the mansion…despite the fact that this was a secluded area in the middle of a forest, the sights were pleasant ones.

There was a small fountain with sparkling clean water aplenty gushing from it and the gardens were trimmed well, safe from becoming overgrown; a bed of red roses lined the path to the mansion.

The only thing that perhaps stood out from all of this, was the state of the house.

The bricks were slightly weathered, patches of moss were starting to grow in a few areas, as well as climbing ivy, yet the young mouse insisted that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Once we were inside, the young man told us to wait for a few minutes while he went and called the madam.  
We merely did as we were told and sat down in the lobby of the house.

As we were waiting, my mother gave me a grin.  
" That young man is quite the looker hmmm?" she said to me, nudging my shoulder very lightly.

I laughed in return.  
" Mother! Are you insisting I marry a butler instead?" I asked in-between laughs.

" Well only if this Gregory doesn't turn up…I wonder where that young man could be, oh I hope he's not one of those rowdy boys that enjoy drinking, we had enough of that from your father"

It seemed to be a fair old wait, but eventually our young escort returned with a much older woman.  
" Mrs and Ms Weathering…this is my mother, Madam Gabriella Nezumi" the young man said, introducing the three of us with an impish grin.  
" I'm her son…Gregory"

My mother and I could only stare open mouthed upon learning that, afterall despite being dressed in posh clothes, the young lord looked so…ordinary compared to what I had imagined him to be.

Madam Nezumi gazed at me and my mother with what I could only assume was some kind of judging stare, she didn't seem to look very friendly…but then again, I thought that maybe it was wrong of me to be so judgemental towards people and just thought that she was just a little nervous of us…how wrong I was.

Although I had yet to find out…Madam Nezumi was far from being a normal woman, she had the most bizarre taste in clothes, furniture and food, but I put that down to her perhaps migrating from somewhere long ago and she had been too sentimental to leave it all behind.  
She looked as if she despised the fact that her son was going to take my hand in marriage and even more incensed once she learnt that it was actually her son that had accepted it in the first place without telling her.

Yet through all of this, she hardly said a word…but the look in her oddly coloured eyes said a lot more than if it had been put into words.

The old woman just sat there throughout the entire meeting with a tight-lipped expression on her face, giving occasional venomous glares towards me and her own son…but still she said nothing, heaven knows why…but of course it didn't take me long to guess what her problem was just a few days after the wedding.

From the moment we were to be married, I was quick to find out that Gregory was far from the ordinary man that I had at first believed him to be.  
The first thing I noticed about him was his eyes…  
They were unlike any other colour that I had ever seen before, a gorgeous shade of violet merging with some dark purple.  
It was a colour that made his eyes seem so deep and soulful, almost like he was from another world or something like that.

His mannerisms were quite interesting as well…he may have been twenty-nine years old, but he had in his eyes, a sparkle of life that could only be seen in the eyes of children.  
He had quite an appetite for adventure and exploration, setting his sights on overcoming any hurdle that life threw at him.

Gregory was also a gentleman, using every gentle word and charms to make me seem less wary of him, he was someone whom I had only met that day at the engagement…and he also won his way into my heart on that very same day as dusk had settled outside.


	2. Meeting the residents

After we had married and our honeymoon was over, Gregory delighted in showing me every nook and cranny of his mansion, even showing me the people who worked there.  
" This is our resident nurse, Ms. Catherine Karte, she more or less started her career not too long ago" Gregory had told me, his arm extending towards a rather young woman who merely gulped when she looked to me.  
" Although you have to forgive her, she's a little shy of newcomers…"

I looked at her with an understanding expression, the poor dear must of only been in her early twenties and hadn't even got herself settled in yet, although I suppose that me and her were in the same boat then.  
I then held my hand out towards her, figuring that I might as well do a friendly gesture to make her feel more welcome.  
" It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Karte"

The young woman just stared at my outstretched hand, blinking twice and just generally looking unsure of what to do, was she not familiar with this form of greeting?  
Catherine then took my hand and murmured something that was completely out of place with the entire situation.  
" Veins…"

" I-I beg your pardon?" I practically spat as I turned to face her properly, it was then and it was only then that I noticed that her skin was extremely pale, like she'd been indoors for a long time, without ever stepping outside.

Catherine didn't react to my outburst however, instead she continued to stare at my hand with her eyes as alert as a hawk's.  
" You…you have nice veins" she said, her tone of voice having no particular emotion in it what-so-ever.

I just looked to Gregory who merely grimaced in response, yet he was quick to whisk my arm away from Catherine.  
" You'll have to forgive her…she's just suffering from a traumatic event from a few weeks ago" he whispered in my ear before turning to the young nurse.

" I'm very sorry my dear, but we have to be off somewhere else in the mansion, please attend to your duties, there's a good girl" he told the nurse with a sympathetic tone in his voice as he pulled me away, off down the corridor and away from the nurse who just stood there with that same blank look on her face.

" A traumatic event that she's still suffering from? and you still have her working?" I hissed at him through gritted teeth as we continued walking rather briskly down the long corridor.

" I tried to convince her to have some time off, but she wouldn't take it!" he hissed back.  
" She's a workaholic in all aspects of the word, loves her job even to the point of sleeping in the nurse's office!"

" But still, letting her continue in that state is unethical…please Gregory, see if you can get her to reconsider, otherwise she'll be on death's door!"

At that moment, I could of sworn that Gregory had said something along the lines of " It's a little too late for that…" but I brushed it off as him merely muttering something nonsensical.

We continued on until we reached the dining room, this time I was able to meet yet another resident of the house…the mansion's live-in chef.  
Gregory had given the chef a friendly greeting as well, yet it seemed like he was much more familiar with this young man that stared at us blankly.  
Obviously this chef was another quiet one…yet unlike Catherine, he did not say a single word while Gregory introduced us.

"…And this is my beloved wife, Victoria" Gregory had said in such a proud tone as he gestured towards me.

I merely blushed, but I remembered to do a polite curtsey, just for the sake of being friendly.  
" It's a pleasure to meet you Mr…" I trailed off, waiting to see if the chef would tell me his name.

Yet that response didn't come, instead the chef only grunted and said something to Gregory.  
" Gregory…I have to make the preparations for a meal…"

Gregory paused at that moment, yet he soon gave a nod to the chef.  
" Ahhh I understand Chef, me and Victoria won't keep you any longer than we have to…" he was quick to face me and once again take me by the hand.  
" We'll see you later!"

As we went off down the corridor again, I heard the chef answer…but it sounded more demanding than understanding.  
" Come back later…to eat!"

" Don't worry Chef, we will! Isn't that right darling?" he looked to me and gave me a quick nudge as if to carry on from what he'd said.

" Erm…ye-yes, we will! Of course we will!" I called back, my tone almost sounding delirious as I turned to look over my shoulder at the chef who still remained in the same spot that he'd been in when me and Gregory found him.

Turning back to face ahead of me, I couldn't help but wonder what I'd gotten myself into by marrying the lord of the mansion…but all of this was only the beginning.


	3. Unusual Company

It must have been quarter to twelve, midnight, when I was awoken from my sleep by the sound of maniacal laughing…it seemed to belong to a woman, possibly the young nurse that Gregory had introduced to me earlier that day.

Although feeling somewhat woozy with sleep, I staggered over to the door and cautiously peeked through the keyhole.

There wasn't much to see other than the darkened corridor, but I could still hear Catherine laughing…and for one moment, I could of sworn that I heard screaming; yet it eventually died down, along with Catherine's laugh.

This made me feel rather uneasy, although all of this could have been brought on by the weird dinner that the Chef had made for me and Gregory…but nevertheless, I quickly scurried back to bed.

I was rather surprised to see that the commotion hadn't woken my dear husband at all…which led me to believe that either he was a very heavy sleeper or this sort of thing happened on a regular basis.

Laying in bed somewhat cautiously, I couldn't help but imagine what sort of things had occurred that night…images of the nurse using some medical tools on some poor soul unfortunate enough to cross her, ran through my head…I tossed and turned, trying my best to get back to a peaceful sleep, yet after that experience that proved to be rather difficult.

I must of eventually fallen asleep however, because Gregory was the one to wake me next morning.

" Are you alright, my dear? You look a little rough" he asked me, a look of concern reflected in those deep purple eyes of his.

" I…" I began, thinking of the event from the night before, those blood-curdling screams and Catherine laughing, they still hadn't left my mind…but oh how I wish they did.

" I had a bad dream" I finally responded, unable to tell my own husband what I'd really heard last night…I could of tried to tell him the truth, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself too.

Gregory just stared at me for a while, as if doubting my answer…had I given myself away that easily?

Yet he then sighed and shook his head.

" Well a bad dream is just a bad dream, Victoria…it's not like they can actually hurt you"

I merely rubbed my arm, averting my eyes from him slightly.

Of course bad dreams couldn't hurt me…but if those things were real then they could do whatever they pleased!

Eventually I looked back to him and gave a small smile.  
" Of course"

Gregory smiled back to me, then turned to jump out of bed.

" Come on, we'd better get to the dining room…the chef will be dishing up breakfast and he'll be rather angry if we're not down there to eat it!"

" He'd get mad if we weren't there to eat his food?" I couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

" Now that's a chef who loves his cooking a wee bit too much!"

Yet Gregory didn't laugh at that however, his expression stayed serious as he put his clothes on.

" He's just very sensitive, he's been like that since he was small"

I looked surprised at that.

" You've known him since he was small?"

Gregory nodded in response to my question.

" Before he was old enough to work here, he used to watch how his parents cooked…they were former residents here at the house" Gregory then looked at his watch and grimaced.

" But enough chit-chat, we have to get down there now!"

Before I could even pull on some fresh clothes, Gregory lightly pushed me along so in the end, I had no other option other than going down the stairs with him, and along to the dining room.

In no time at all, we found ourselves in the big dining room with all the chandeliers lit, the long table was lined with meals for everyone that lived in the house and standing at the side of the room was the chef, his eyes watching everyone in the room like a hawk.

I felt extremely uncomfortable as I sat in my chair, mostly because of the fact that everyone turned to look at me sitting there in my nightgown, naturally I felt rather embarrassed but it seemed that I had no need to worry as they all went back to eating their breakfast…obviously it was the presence of the chef that saved my modesty there.

Once the feeling of being ashamed for my being under-dressed in public subsided, I began to make a start at eating the meal that we'd all been given.

It was a rather exquisite meal to say the least, there were sausages, baguettes and scrambled eggs with bacon.

It smelled delicious and looked delicious, much much better than the supper that we'd been served last night…of course I couldn't say that out loud to the chef.

But the real question was, did this freshly cooked meal actually taste delicious.

I hesitated at little at first, hovering my fork warily over the plate, my expression a picture of indecisiveness as I inwardly discussed what to do next in my mind.

It was then that I felt a pair of eyes fixing themselves onto me so severely, that it could of burnt a hole through me.

Looking up from my plate, I saw the chef standing there looking at me, his eyes not even blinking as he stared at me, he then looked down at my plate for a moment, then back up at me.

Eventually I gulped audibly and began to eat the meal rather quickly, unable to deal with those eyes looking at me anymore.

The chef, once he saw that I was eating merely gave a satisfied grunt and walked away, obviously moving along to make sure that someone else would eat their dinner.

As I ate the surprisingly delicious meal, I glanced around the table looking at some of the other people who had joined us for breakfast, they certainly seemed to be an interesting mixture of people.

There was a young couple ( obviously just married, like myself and my husband) sitting on the opposite side of us, they seemed to be looking a tad on the pale side…of course I was putting it down to the lighting in the room which came from the wide chandelier that was hanging overhead.

Another thing I noticed was that the woman was taller than the man, she seemed to have a sleek bodyline while the man was much more stocky-looking.

Yet just by looking at them, they couldn't of possibly been feeling very well, the dark rings under the eyes was another giveaway, that and the man occasionally coughed in-between mouthfuls.

I would of asked them if they were feeling alright but decided not to, for fear of being scolded by the chef for talking rather than eating.

Another casual look around the table revealed more of the house's residents.

A rather distinguished looking gentleman sat at the end of the table, closest to Madame Nezumi.

He had a moustache, oddly coloured eyes and brown hair swept up into a pony-tail.

Not a word came from his mouth as he silently chewed on a bit of steak, there was just silence.

Although I longed to ask Gregory who that man was, I thought it best to just wait it out throughout breakfast, that way I'd be able to speak freely without being told off.

And of course, there next to this gentleman was Madam Nezumi, her dark piercing gaze was aimed right at me…why on earth was she still looking angry?  
Was it because when me and Gregory went on our honeymoon, we didn't take her with her?

Was it because we did what most newly-weds do when they get married and had a bit of time to ourselves?

I said not one word at that point, but I made sure to send her an equally dark scowl across the table.

I was beginning to think that she was jealous or something…did she have some kind of son complex?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, breakfast was finally over and everyone went their separate ways in the house.

Madame Nezumi had rather hastily made her way out of the dining room as soon as possible, not that I minded one bit of course.

At last, I was able to ask Gregory about the rather silent gentleman.  
" Gregory…may I ask you something, do you know who the moustached man at the table was?"

" Hmm? Oh…well he's one of the live-in residents at the house, he's lived here since I was a small boy" Gregory explained.

" His parents used to run the clock shop that's based in this very house"

As Gregory told me about the family, we both began to walk along the corridor of the mansion, I was deeply enthralled in the tale he was telling me, every little thing that had ever happened, every detail…although his face soon darkened.

" However…then came the time when the shop was passed down to him at a very early stage, something that he wasn't even prepared for…"

Gregory didn't have to tell me what could of possibly happened there, I could imagine what kind of thing had happened in order for the young man to take over his parents business.

Even though I had no words for a response, it would seem that just doing a nod of my head was enough for my husband to continue with the tale.

" In a desperate attempt to live up to his parents faith in him, he took up learning all about time and how it was always fleeting; yet as time went on, he began wishing for a way to make time stop, go forwards or even go backwards; he wanted to control the flow of time with his own bare hands…and that was when his studies in time went a little too far"

" A little too far?" I asked with a quizzical look upon my face.

" Wh-what do you mean?"

At that moment, Gregory went quiet as the man we'd been talking about, came walking up the corridor ( having exited the dining room before we did to go somewhere) in the opposite direction, he turned to look at us and gave a nodding gesture as if to say hello, before carrying on his way.

As he passed us, I could of sworn that I heard the sound of clockwork coming from within his body; it was a rather surreal moment that made me double-take before looking forward once more.

I don't think that I wanted to know just how much he'd gotten into his obsession with time…but Gregory just let out a sigh.

" In fact my dear, you could say that he's now become the house's main clock…he always knows what time it is and never misses out at dinner-time"

" Wait! So you're saying he's an actual living, breathing clock?" I spluttered, my eyes wide with horror.  
Sure me, my husband and his mother were anthropomorphic mice, the house nurse; a pink lizard and the chef, a walking candle…but I'd never expected there to be other living objects walking around.

" Well…" Gregory said as he started his reply, a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face…was he nervous about something?

" You have quite an imagination!" he insisted and waved his hand dismissively.

" A walking clock…" he began chuckling although it sounded forced and rather awkward.

' _You don't know how right you are…_'

I just looked at him with a doubtful expression, although he soon noticed that and took my hand gently.

" Come now, my dear…let's not dwell on such a subject, to think of such bizarre things all the time can't be good for the soul, shall we go for a walk in the garden? Maybe you just need some fresh air" he suggested with a soft smile…although I couldn't help but shiver slightly when he added in a slighter quieter voice.

" Afterall, if a rose doesn't get enough air…then it is quick to wither"

But in the end, I ignored that rather odd statement by him and just let him lead me outside…for once, I was actually glad to be going outside; I hadn't noticed it at first…but something just wasn't right with this house.

Little did I know how right I was at the time…


End file.
